


7 Day Fa(e)tality

by ivoughrie, Vashoth



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Space, Egg-O the robot, First Dates, First Kiss, Happy Ending, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-26 16:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12062529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivoughrie/pseuds/ivoughrie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vashoth/pseuds/Vashoth
Summary: The deal is simple: Tony has seven days to repair his wrecked spaceship. If he succeeds, he's free to leave the planet so long as he takes the fae with him.If he fails, he dies.Or: that one fic where space explorer Tony crash lands in fae prince Bucky's backyard.





	1. Day One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DreamcatchersDaughter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamcatchersDaughter/gifts).



 

**Bucky**

 

He just wanted to go on a walk. That was it. Go on a walk and enjoy the scenery where civilization had touched it the least. It was a two hour flight from the palace and he had to dodge about forty-something odd guards to do it, but it was usually worth it for the peace and quiet. For the ability to just exist without expectations. Comfortable was the right word. Especially what with coronation being a week away and all the stressful new duties to be exactly oh-so-ornate and symbolic, the time away was something Bucky treasured more than most things.

 

But because fate is a cruel mistress and Bucky had never had an ounce of good luck in his life, his favourite place on the whole planet happened to be  _ on fire _ . 

 

Or recently on fire, at least. Smoking, currently. Bits of metal and plastic littered the ground leading up to the crash site where a still very much alive human--and of course it was a human--spoke to himself. Bucky sighed, drew his spear from it’s holster with one hand, and in the other he readied magic at the tips of his artificial fingers. The human (it appeared to be covered in soot) was far too preoccupied to notice his own incoming death so Bucky decided to be polite. 

 

He cleared his throat. 

 

* * *

 

 

**Tony**

  
  


Tony slowly turned as he heard someone clear their throat from behind him. He tried not to panic, he did his best to remain calm and ignored all the legends that he had heard of people that had crashed on the planet previously. It was just his luck that he would crash into the side of one where people didn’t come back from. He controlled his breathing and looked away from his ship and instead focused his attention on the person behind him. 

 

“Hi?” he tried. He pointedly ignored the spear that was pointed at him, it was normal to be hostile towards intruders and Tony was definitely an intruder. But having a weapon pointed at him didn’t have to mean that he couldn't talk his way out of the situation. Maybe the fae that was glowering at him would be open to conversation. “I don’t mean to intrude or anything, I’ll just fix this up and be on my way, I promise.”

 

The man glanced down at him, tired expression his face, as though he could not be bothered to deal with Tony and was upset that Tony was there at all. Tony supposed that if anyone else looked at him the way that the fae was currently it would be off-putting, but with the fae it was not enough to distract from his radiance. “Do you know where you are?” he asked, not lowering his spear. 

 

Tony nodded, he knew. He was all too aware of it, he had hoped to leave the planet without being noticed. It figured that he landed close enough to civilization to be found immediately. 

 

“Fae planet, yeah?” he said. “Like I said, I’ll be on my way soon. I don’t want to disturb the balance.”

 

That was apparently the wrong thing to say. The fae scowled at him and stabbed his spear in the direction of Tony’s spaceship. The motion caused Tony to get a better look at his arm as he thrusted it upwards. One arm was flesh, Tony could tell as much, but his left was seemingly made of rocks, vines and flowers. Tony could see the faint silver glint of the stone under the greenery that covered it. The vines moved and wrapped around his joints as he shifted as though they were anticipating the movement and already knew how to adjust to hold the stones underneath in place. It was the most interesting prosthetic that Tony had seen. It matched the rest of the fae perfectly. The way that the vines moved and the way that the small flowers seemed to be on the cusp of blooming was breathtaking, much like the man himself. 

 

“You already have. With your,” he paused as he squinted at the ship and tried to place what it was. “Ship?”

 

“Yeah, it’s a ship,” Tony confirmed. “I won’t make things worse then.”

 

“If you know where you are, then you know I can’t give you that chance,” the fae said, but he frowned as he spoke. He didn’t look at Tony, instead focusing on the ship behind him. But the spear never moved away from where it pointed at Tony. The words didn’t reach his eyes, as he spoke it was as though he was distancing himself from what he was saying with every word that he uttered. Something that came out sounding recited, like he had grown used to it and was trained to say it but nothing more. Something about it didn’t sit right with Tony and it was enough to get him to believe he could get out of this situation. 

 

“Why not?” Tony challenged. 

 

Tony could see the moment that fae’s grip on his spear loosened just slightly as he let out a breath and tiredly said, “Law dictates intruders are to be killed on sight.” Another well practiced line, Tony was already sick of them. “You’re dangerous,” he stated, but it was another thing that he didn’t sound like he believed. He surveyed the wreckage behind Tony as though seeing the damage would convince him that Tony was actually a threat. “Apparently,” he shrugged and it was the most genuine part of the encounter so far. 

 

“You just assume every stranger is dangerous?” Tony asked. “I’m guessing you guys aren’t known for your hospitality.” 

The fae let out a laugh. Another thing that didn’t quite reach his eyes but it left Tony staring at how captivating he was anyway. “Wouldn’t know,” he said. “No one’s welcomed, no one leaves.” He sighed and adjusted his grip on the spear as he leveled it with Tony’s neck. 

 

Tony could do this. He could definitely figure his way out this. He had been in worse situations before, and he had definitely had worse things pointed at him than a spear. He took in the fae before him once more. Noticed the closed off he expression he held on his face as he stared down at Tony, grip on the spear firm if the way his fingers curled around it and the tautness of the vines were anything to go by. 

 

“Okay,” Tony began lightly, refusing to acknowledge the spear pointed at him. “Just one question then. Do  _ you  _ think that I’m dangerous?” 

 

The fae tilted his head to the side. Stared at Tony for a while longer, studied him for a moment, as though the question caught him off-guard entirely. Tony wondered how many others had been in his position. Had none of them ever thought to ask the man’s opinion? 

 

“...What?” The fae asked after a long silence. 

 

Tony shrugged. “You’ve told me plenty about your laws and how things are handled, but you haven’t said what you think,” he stated, as though it should have been obvious what he wanted. Honestly it should have, he had asked out right for the fae’s thoughts. He hoped that he would not kill Tony if he did not personally find him to be a threat. “And it doesn’t seem like you’re too enthused about killing me.” 

 

The fae continued to stare at him. He blinked a few times as the confusion grew on his face. He opened his mouth to answer once, to respond at all but he closed it just as fast. The frown that he had worn before returned, more intense this time. “Does it matter?” he settled on. 

 

Tony shrugged and took the moment to stand up. The fae watched him but did not motion to attack him, instead the spear followed him as he rose. “Maybe,” Tony said casually as he tried to wipe off the soot that had clung to his clothes from the debris of the crash. “Depends on if you care about your own opinion or if you’re going to blindly follow a law that you don’t seem to care about.” 

 

Tony knew a thing or two about not following a ruleset, and the fae definitely seemed like someone that no longer wanted to follow the one that was presented to him. Instead of confirming or denying Tony’s accusation he just frowned more. Tony would have made a joke about him getting wrinkles early in life, but decided against it. He didn’t know the lifespan of fae, he had no idea how old he was or for how long fae lived. Making that joke might have been something that only worked for humans. 

 

“I care about the safety of the people on this planet,” the fae said, then confusion crossed his face again as he raised an eyebrow at Tony. “These are strange last words.”

 

Tony grinned, bright and wide. “I never really agreed to the whole last words thing. And I’m not going to harm anyone here.” 

 

The fae gave him a small grin in return, one that was more genuine. Sure enough, as Tony had suspected, the fae was more captivating when the smile actually reached his eyes. “It’s not really somethin’ you gotta  _ agree  _ to. More of a courtesy.”

 

Tony shook his head. “I’d prefer to have the courtesy extended to me sometime in the far,  _ far  _ future.” 

 

That seemed to get the fae’s interest. He grinned and Tony saw his eyes light up. “Oh? What are you proposin’?”

 

Tony tried not to breathe out a sigh of relief. He could make a bargain, if that was what was needed. At any rate, the fae seemed a lot more willing to listen to him now. 

 

“Just tell them that I’m dead, and let me go,” he said. “Like I said, I won’t harm anyone. I don’t want to be here as much as you don’t want me here.” That much was true at least; Tony did not want to be there. He was cursing the planet from the moment that he landed. From the moment that Jarvis started reading off his coordinates and telling him the nearest planet for him to make his landing on. Of course it couldn’t have been one with friendlier natives. He supposed that the situation was turning out better than he had expected so far. 

 

The fae grinned at him again and lowered the spear. His eyes glimmered with amusement, Tony could see him thinking about something, as though an idea had crossed his mind but he hadn’t decided to let Tony in on the secret yet. “And how exactly do you plan on leaving? I ain’t got a spare ship lyin’ around and yours doesn’t look so good.” 

 

Tony relaxed as the spear was finally lowered. His eyes once again strayed to the fae’s left arm, wanting to know more about the prosthetic, and the fae was not making enough motion for him to get a solid theory on how it functioned. He pried his eyes away from it so he could look at the man before him again. “I can figure something out. Can probably do a quick fix with some stuff I find laying around. It won’t be the safest but it’ll be enough to get me to the nearest planet for me to do proper repairs.” 

 

Tony honestly wasn’t sure if he would even be able to find the parts needed. He still didn’t know what he needed. He hoped that his ship had enough spares on board for him to get through this. He had only started analyzing the damage when he was approached, but he was feeling confident anyway. He had gotten himself out of trickier situations, he supposed. 

 

“You can fix that?” The fae asked as he skeptically looked at the wreckage. 

 

Tony let out a laugh, he was sure that he could. The ship hadn’t reached total failure, some of the lights were still on even now and he could hear the soft whirring if he listened close enough from various parts of it. It wasn’t an entirely lost cause. “Sure, wouldn’t be the first time.” 

 

The fae finally moved from where he had been rooted to the spot since he first interrupted Tony and headed in the direction of the wreckage. He once again grasped his spear as he gently stabbed a portion of it next to a part that was still slowly burning. “It’s on  _ fire. _ ” 

 

Tony let out a huff. He had been trying to ignore the fire, hoping that it hadn’t grown larger in the time that he took to deal with his intruder. “I was sort of interrupted as I tried to put it out by someone wanting to  _ kill me _ . I have my priorities in order, I think.” 

 

The fae gave him a disbelieving smile. “So you’re tellin’ me that you can get this mess fixed up enough to leave the planet?”

 

Tony fully turned to survey his ship. The fire was still crackling and he could see the plumes of smoke rising up over the trees. He wondered if that were something he should be concerned about. Would the other fae see it and come searching for the source? He tried to ignore that--he would have to put out the fire quickly if he wanted to remain a secret. Other than the fires there were a few dents and scratches, but those were not things he would be able to smooth out while on the planet. It could still fly if it were banged up a little. 

 

He walked forward to start swatting at a small fire that was eye level. Because the universe often liked to play jokes on him, Tony was convinced of it, the small section burned off completely with a crackle and a spark that sent a puff of heat in his face that was gone as quickly as it came. He coughed as the smoke filled his lungs and he felt the ash cover his face and hair. He turned on his heel towards the fae and put on his best confident grin. “That’s what I’m telling you.” 

 

The fae looked like he was holding back laughter. “How long?” he asked. 

 

Tony glanced back at the ship. It gave a creaking noise in response that did not inspire confidence. “A week?” Tony guessed, he still had no idea. He hoped that the damages were not as bad as the initial impact made him believe. “At most. I haven’t finished assessing all the damages.” 

 

“I’ll make you a deal,” the fae said, he studied Tony for moment as though he was trying to decide on something but Tony still hadn’t been let in on what he was thinking. “You have six days. If you’re not finished by then I’ll kill you.” He paused, looked at Tony once more and then continued before Tony could even react, “But, if you do fix it, you’ll be allowed to leave the planet. On one condition.” 

 

“Somehow I don’t think this is going to be in my favor,” Tony said dryly. 

 

The fae grinned at him again. “If you can get this ship workin’ in time, then…when you leave, you take me with you.” 

 

Tony wasn’t sure what he was expecting but it wasn’t that. He tried to imagine the reaction on Earth with him bringing a fae back. He had lost signal during the crash. He couldn’t contact Earth. He was flying blind, Tony admitted that he probably would have not listened to whatever input he received but now that he was left without it he found that he wanted it. It felt odd to potentially go through with something reckless and not have Rhodey reprimanding him for it immediately after, or sometimes, during. 

 

“Because taking someone from an uncontacted planet onto a spaceship seems like such a great idea,” Tony said, inwardly groaning when it came closer to sounding like something Rhodey would say than what he would. 

 

“We have plenty of contact. Just don’t want it. Ain’t the most hospitable, remember?” The fae shrugged 

 

Tony rolled his eyes. “Hard to imagine why you’d want to leave.” 

 

The playful look quickly disappeared off the fae’s face and Tony was once again on the end of that distant expression that the fae had worn for most of their encounter.  “That is not your concern,” he said coldly. 

 

“Relax,” Tony said but the fae looked anything but. “I’m not one that really cares about rules--or repercussions. I’ll take you with me.” Tony could already hear Rhodey scolding him. 

 

The fae raised an eyebrow but he did not question how easily Tony had agreed. “Then you are agreeing to the terms of the deal?” 

 

Tony waved a hand. “Sure, sure. Not the worst thing I’ve agreed to.” It probably wasn’t the best either, but there was no reason to mention that. 

 

The fae reached out a hand for Tony to shake. Tony noted that it wasn’t the prosthetic, but he could get a better look at it now that he was closer. It still didn’t give him any clarification on how it functioned. “Then we have an agreement, human.” 

 

Tony frowned for a moment before shaking the fae’s hand and grinning. “Guess we do.” 

 

The fae nodded once, looked at the ship, then Tony and then back at the ship again before walking out of the forest clearing and back into the woods as quietly as he had come. 

 

Tony ran his fingers through his hair as he sighed and turned back towards his ship. He glanced at the places where fire was still crackling, the metal turning in on itself as the flames melted it slowly. 

 

He tried to remember the protocol for these situations. He knew that there was a standard procedure but he couldn’t remember the exact steps. At the very least he had to record a log. He pulled out his recording device and set it to follow him as he walked around the ship trying to locate all of the sources of fire. His burning ship was the only thing providing him light in the dark forest. He hadn’t known if he had crashed near a city, but if he had there was no light pollution that would confirm it. 

 

"I crashed on the fae planet today,” he began as he started putting out the first fire.  “I've heard that no one makes it out.”

 

Tony’s thoughts wandered to the fae that he met. The man was stunning. There was no other word for it. He wondered if the rest of the fae were as breathtaking or if he had lucked out. 

 

“After meeting with one of the natives I understand why. They are as intimidating as they are beautiful.” Tony knew that the information probably wasn’t vital if the log were needed in the future but Earth was desperate for more knowledge on the fae, had been for centuries, and that was currently the only way he knew how to describe them. 

 

The fire below his feet popped and sent specks of light up into the air before it fizzled out, close enough that Tony felt the heat blow against his face. He frowned down at it as he continued to try and sum up his thoughts for his log.  “I'm left wondering if some didn't leave just because they were captivated by the natives and not because they were killed.Ship needs repairs but it's currently too dark for me to properly assess the damage." 

 

Tony put out the last fire that he could find, now left completely in the dark, aside from the light emanating from his recording device. 

 

He glanced up at the stars. His favorite part--no matter how many different planets he visited--was looking at the night sky and seeing how it was different from the other places he had been. He stood and stared at it, wondering how the fae thought about the universe from their corner of the universe, what they had been able to discern from their night sky. 

 

Tony sighed and started detailing his crash, trying to push thoughts of the fae to the back of his mind. He needed to focus on getting off the planet. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by the fae, even if one was threatening to kill him. Hell, especially if one was threatening to kill him. He was suddenly all too aware of the timeline that he had set for himself. 


	2. Day Two

 

**Bucky**

 

Bucky caught sight of the human’s dark black curls over the top of of a piece of scorched metal before he could see the rest of him. He was crouched with his back to Bucky and was staring intently at a bright flat surface that looked like a mirror. A bad mirror. The image in it was backwards, a little grainy, and it flickered every now and again as the human spoke to his own reflection. 

 

“Day two on the fae planet. I have now finished the analysis of the ship and the damages. It looks a lot worse than it actually is. The engine is mostly intact and the backup engines will be able to hold if I can’t repair it in time. I will need to leave some of the generators off if I want to complete this in time.” He paused to sigh and run a hand through his hair. Bucky took another step closer. He meant to interrupt the human, stop him before he continued his obviously private conversation, at least, but his eyes were caught on the way he had carefully reorganized the crash site since Bucky’s last visit. It was no longer on fire, which was a good start, but all the pieces of damaged ship had been cleaned up a bit and set out with clear tool sets beside them. The way it looked, it was almost like the pseudo-mirror was the center of the human’s workstation. 

 

The human didn’t seem to notice Bucky’s entrance though, and kept talking. “One of the natives has told me that he’ll kill me if this is not done within a week. As reckless as I am with my life, I would like to keep it for a while longer. The approximations for each repair is as follows--”

 

Something bright and buzzing zoomed in from the very edge of Bucky’s peripheral at eye-level and Bucky reeled back. He threw his hands up to protect his face and released a small blast wave of destructive magic in warning. The thing, whatever it was, dropped out of the air like a boulder and hit the forest floor with a rattle and a wheeze. Bucky blinked at it. 

 

The human stopped in his conversation and turned to frown at Bucky. Bucky frowned back. 

 

The little spherical flying device made a whirring noise that almost sounded distressed. A high pitched whine that tapered off as it rocked pitifully against a bed of dried leaves. 

 

Bucky looked back up at the human as he approached, and stayed rooted to the spot. He had no idea what to expect from the thing on the ground in front of him, but the flames from the crash were still bright in his mind and he didn’t care to spend the afternoon re-weaving his own skin for being reckless. But the human didn’t seem to share the same caution. He knelt down and gathered the sphere into his arms. It rested, cradled against the human’s chest, and Bucky saw that it wasn’t just a flat surface. There was dark panel with lights dancing across it that sort of looked like… eyes? Bucky’s frown deepened. 

 

“I’m guessing you can’t fix him?” The human addressed Bucky tiredly. His hands were smudged in something that looked oily and black. His fingers left behind smudges across the silver surface of the little creature that hummed and ticked contentedly. When he spoke again, it was softer, and most definitely not directed at Bucky. “We can get you fixed up. I know, you just wanted to say hi.” 

 

All at once it sunk in that the spherical thing was a living being of some kind, and a companion to the human. It was unsettling enough that Bucky had missed the presence of a second intruder during his first visit to the crash site, but that didn't matter. He'd already given his word that he wouldn't kill the human until his inevitable failure to repair his ship. He wasn't technically bound by the same promise not to kill the creature, but Bucky had always despised hearing about deals won through technicality. Killing the human’s companion just seemed like it would be in poor taste. Especially with the insurmountable odds he already faced. Really, the least Bucky could do was let this human live out his last week with the comfort of what was familiar to him. 

 

“I'm sorry,” Bucky said. He wasn't sure whether to address the human or the creature. “I didn't realize what it--er,” Bucky thought back to the way the human addressed the creature, “he? I didn't realize what he was.”

 

“Yeah, he. I think.” The human was slightly mollified, a light laugh gracing his features as he stared at the creature he cradled. The human’s eyes were hidden under long lashes as he gently hushed the creature’s fretting noises, like a father holding his son. The ash and soot that covered them both made it an odd picture, but the human's fondness for the creature in his arms was clear as day. “This is Egg-O.” 

 

The creature, Egg-O, made a happy whirring noise, his eyes mimicking a blinking motion and then vanishing entirely to be replaced momentarily with a light-up heart. Bucky felt himself smile. 

 

“Egg-O,” he repeated quietly, and the human looked up at him. He smiled back at Bucky and nodded. It could still be a trap, could be some cruel joke, but the way Egg-O was excitedly beeping and clicking as Bucky gradually pried himself away from the defensive to come closer was cute enough to tug directly on Bucky’s heartstrings. 

 

Once he was close enough, he could see the scorch marks on Egg-O’s metal from his own magic. That wasn’t all, either. The little external panels that covered the fan-like blades that presumably kept Egg-O afloat were bent at angle that looked unintentional. Like they’d folded and crumpled from the little guy’s harsh landing. Bucky frowned. He could probably fix that. 

 

He reached out with his artificial hand, careful to make it so that the vines covered the hard stone and any thorns were tucked safely away. Egg-O made a curious humming noise. Just to be polite, Bucky glanced up at the human. He was met with big expressive brown eyes that widened on Bucky’s arm. 

 

Bucky swallowed. He wasn’t sure why he was suddenly so nervous. “May I?”

 

Those eyes narrowed on him, accompanied with a small inquisitive tilt of the human’s head. “Sure...?” The human sounded unsure. He looked down at Egg-O and a stray curl fell onto the human’s forehead from where it had been pushed back and Bucky fought the urge to reach out and fix it. “Is that okay?” 

 

Egg-O’s whirring noises got louder and hummed out a distinct, ‘mhmm!’ sound. Bucky’s smile grew without his permission. 

 

“Nice to meet you, Egg-O.” He stepped closer and let the tips of his fingers trail over the scorch marks. Egg-O wiggled as best he could. “I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m going to try to fix you, alright?” 

 

He focused energy to his fingertips. He thought of water and ice, and everything that was opposite of fire. He imagined the scorch marks fading away like a bruise healing, and when they stayed put he frowned. He imagined instead the scorch marks lifting up off the metal surface and falling away like ash. That seemed to work better. The metal cooperated with him after that, the bent panels righting themselves with only a little bit of gentle encouragement until Bucky couldn’t spot any other flaws. 

 

“I… I don’t really understand how he works, but,” Bucky chewed anxiously on his lower lip and looked back up at the human, “did that help?” 

 

The human’s lips had parted just slightly and the surprise on his face was nearly comical. He blinked once, twice, then shook himself out of it and looked back down at Egg-O. “How are you feeling?” 

 

Egg-O’s hum started out quiet, then burst into a loud whirring of fans. He was repelled suddenly from the man’s arms, and zoomed through the air like a dragonfly. Egg-O tilted left, tilted right, and then darted at Bucky. For half a second, Bucky’s hands went up defensively and magic bubbled to the surface of his skin, ready to protect himself. But Egg-O slowed down when he got close enough for Bucky to feel the whoosh of air coming from his sides. Egg-O pressed up gently on Bucky’s cheek and let out a soft hum, light-display eyes closing in contentment before he pulled away and whizzed around Bucky and the human both in excited circles. 

 

The human reached up a hand to steady the little creature and Bucky watched in awe as Egg-O melted into the touch, stilling somehow in the middle of hovering as if held entirely at peace by the man’s hand. The human was gentle, Bucky realized. His touch was tentative and soft, matching the kind expression on his face that clung to the edges of his sharp features, reflected like light in his eyes.  _ Warm _ , Bucky thought. _ He’s warm. _

 

“I think he’ll be fine,” the human said. “Seems to have forgiven you pretty quick, too.” 

 

“I’m glad to hear it,” Bucky said. He looked away from the human, conscious of how much he was staring, and instead focused on the ship wreckage. “Who were you talking to? Earlier.” 

 

Bucky walked around and past the human, spear tugged loose from its holster and held casually in his hand. One piece of the ship that seemed almost self-contained, sufficient without the rest of the ship, glowed a dim flickering blue. Bucky leaned down to pluck it off the ground. He frowned at the light. He shook the piece. 

 

“No one. It’s just a video, sort of like a journal. You probably shouldn’t shake that,” the human said from behind him. Bucky paid him no mind. The piece he was holding made some sort of sad clunking noises and started smoking. Then sparking. Then billowing out smoke. 

 

“Oh.”  Bucky dropped it back down to the ground and shoved it away from him with the tip of his spear. 

 

The human laughed, and Bucky glowered at him. “I’m guessing you can’t find me a spare?” 

 

“I’m not bringing you weapons.” 

 

“It’s not a weapon,” the human said, grinning. “It’s a small part for the ship. I can probably do without it though. Try not to make anything explode? I’m on a strict schedule here.” 

 

Guilt seeped in from the edges of Bucky’s gut. Despite the human’s confidence, Bucky knew the human’s task was already impossible and here was Bucky, making the odds even harder. It was just bad form to play with your victims. Even if they were still just potential victims by technicality. So Bucky stopped making things worse and took a step away from the device. 

 

“What is it?” 

 

“Nothing important. Small generator for a section of the ship. Nothing vital.” 

 

It sparked again worryingly and the smoke poured out of it in earnest. Bucky frowned. 

 

“Is it supposed to be smoking like that?” 

 

“Sure. That is the right functionality for when someone aggressively shakes it,” the human said brightly. He gave Bucky another one of those light-up-the-whole room smiles like he was in on some secret he wasn’t planning to divulge. Egg-O made a buzzing, giggling sound from where he hovered near Bucky’s shoulder. 

 

Bucky narrowed his eyes. He was clearly missing something. “Why would you need something that smokes when you shake it?”

 

That got another laugh from the human. “You’re not supposed to shake it. Give it here, i’ll show you how it works.” 

 

That made even less sense. But Bucky complied, using the blunt side of the spear edge to nudge the piece towards the man a bit. Egg-O swooped down from where he was flying and a little nozzle poked out from his side. There was a split second pause, then fluffy white foam covered the burning device, effectively putting the fire out before Egg-O deployed a grabbing mechanism so that he could pick up the device and bring it to his person. 

 

The human smooshed the foam down and wiped it off the surface as best he could. He peered at the piece with a curious intensity, like he was taking measurements and memorizing them in his head, or trying to work magic without having any. After a moment’s deliberation, the human looked back up at Bucky. 

 

“Actually let me show you a working one first.” The human held on to the broken device as he climbed back up the stairs into the shell of the star-ship’s biggest part with Egg-O right behind him. Bucky followed, too. He kept his spear drawn. Just in case.

 

The inside of the ship was nothing like Bucky expected. There were no curls of vines, no stone and mortar. All the complicated mechanisms he’d seen in prized sections of the palace couldn’t have held a candle to the human’s ship. It seemed like every flat dark surface lit up as the human moved past, spitting out strange words and symbols, then flickering dark again. Egg-O’s dim blue light led the way down a passage that was surprisingly roomy given how small the ship looked from the outside. Still, there was no give to the metal walls. It was eerie.

 

Something flashed bright and beeped loudly in Bucky’s right ear and he whipped the spear at it without thinking. His heart pounded in his chest and his head felt a bit dizzy from alarm. Egg-O was beeping in alarm, whirring and flying around the spear that was still protruding out of the flat surface Bucky had apparently seen fit to stab. Egg-O’s little grabber apparatus reached out and tried to tug the spear free. Failing to do so, he turned to the human and made a sad whining noise. 

 

The human looked equally unimpressed. He had a device that looked a lot like the one that was smoking, except it was emitting a calming pale yellow light from its center, as the human fussed with the wires and levers on it. He had been talking, saying something about the device probably, but Bucky missed it. The human paused when Bucky decided to fight the ship and was now cringing openly at the spear. Bucky quickly dislodged it and avoided eye contact. Flecks of glass and plastic rained down onto the floor from where the spear had been. 

 

“Sorry,” Bucky mumbled. His face flushed and he was grateful for the dim lighting in the ship. Dimmer now that he’d gone and broken something else. “Wasn’t expecting any of that.” 

 

The human watched the tip of the spear in alarm. He was trying to hide a wince, unsuccessfully. Bucky did his best to look shamefaced. 

 

“Maybe I should have warned you,” the human spoke quietly, and Bucky wasn’t sure if he meant for there to be a response. Egg-O booped sadly. “Maybe we should go back outside. I don’t want you gutting my ship.” 

 

The guilt in Bucky’s gut boiled over into liable-to-do-something-stupid territory. He stared at the broken panel, at the shards on the floor. Surely whatever it was wasn’t vital to the ship being able to take flight. Bucky fixing it wouldn’t be giving the human any unfair advantages, nor world leaving it be playing dirty. He’d wanted to leave his acceptance of denial of the crown up to fate--fixing the panel would have no affect on their bet, and thus was just polite. 

 

The argument was almost sound enough to drown out the protesting voice in the back of Bucky’s mind that sounded suspiciously like Steve. 

 

“Here, I can... let me just…” Bucky mumbled aloud as he slung his spear back into it’s holster (careful not to snag anything else in the process), and brought his magic to the tips of his fingers. The artificial arm glowed brightly, vines and rocks shivering in delight as he moved. 

 

The human’s voice quickly cut through his concentration. “Have I been working non-stop on this ship for the past day when you can fix it by quite literally ignoring the laws of physics?” 

 

Bucky froze. “The laws of what?”

 

The human made a vague frustrated noise and threw his hands up like Steve sometimes did when Bucky suggested something particularly reckless. “Nothing. Yeah, go ahead and work your magic.”

 

He said the last word with so much irritation laden into it that Bucky could practically taste the bitterness. It wasn’t terribly reassuring. Bucky frowned. “I don't wish to break your laws or customs, human.” He paused. “Without reason, at least.”

 

The laugh that came from the human was anything but good humoured, but his shoulders relaxed from their tense line and Bucky felt marginally better about the pools of energy at his fingertips. 

 

“It’s not a literal law. It’s a scientific law. Go for it.” 

 

Whatever the hell that meant. Bucky tried not to think of the implications of each field of study having their own laws to abide by and immediately it made more sense why the humans were famously bad about avoiding wars. There must have been considerable strain between the different studies. 

 

“You’re not going to explode it again, right?” 

 

Bucky smiled in a way he hoped was soothing, and less like the grimace it felt like. “I’ll try my best.” 

 

“No pressure,” the man took a wary step back. 

 

The pieces of broken glass lifted off the floor and melted in the air into one big puddle. Bucky added in the shattered glass that was still attached to the panel proper before he left the amorphous blob to reshape itself into the neat rectangle it had been before. There was a mess of wires and mesh and a material he wasn’t familiar with (woven out of something that felt like plasma), and he didn’t bother trying to understand the make of it. Instead he just wrapped the panel in a small bubble of time, and twirled it backwards until the parts that were ripped and frayed had healed themselves. Finally, he pressed the finished new glass panel on top and stepped away. 

 

It looked about right. “I think that’s the best I can do.”

 

The panel burbled back to life and the symbols across it were still foreign, but definitely skewed. For whatever reason, this seemed to change the aghast expression on the human’s face into relief. Maybe they were skewed before? 

 

“Good to know you can’t completely toss science out the window. I can take it from here.”

 

“I didn’t toss anything,” Bucky tried, but the human shooed Bucky with hand gestures, motioning that they were leaving the ship again. 

 

Egg-O planted himself on a circular pillar and twisted with a quiet click, and didn’t follow them out. Bucky had no idea what any of that meant, but he knew that humans must have been infinitely more complicated than the records had ever indicated if such a simple interaction as fixing broken materials could potentially be offensive. 

 

“Not literally,” the man conceded. If anything, that made Bucky’s confusion even worse. The human looked annoyed. “Did you come by just to check that I didn’t run away?”

 

Bucky blinked. “You said you could fix a spaceship in a week.” The human had bargained his life on it, in fact. Obviously Bucky wanted to see if he’d managed to do it. He figured that unlikely odds like those were more than enough reason for curiosity. The human didn’t need to know about the whole accept-or-flee-the-crown thing that was hanging in the balance. 

 

A broad grin spread across the human’s face. “It would have been a day, but I have company slowing me down.” He winked. 

 

But the wink wasn’t what startled Bucky. That… wasn’t possible. Fixing the ship in a day. Or at least the human had said it would take a week. He’d said it clear as day. Had so much about the circumstance change that he now only needed a day? 

 

“A day?” Bucky repeated. “You said a week before.” 

 

Now the human looked confused. As if Bucky had been the one confusing things. 

 

“What? No, that was a joke. I can’t fix it in a day. Can’t use magic or anything like you.” 

 

Warning sirens blared in Bucky’s head. Intruders are dangerous, the records said. They should be killed on sight for the safety of the fae people. And Bucky had gone and played with his prey. 

 

“You just said it would have been a day save for the interruptions,” Bucky said carefully, hoping that maybe this was a misunderstanding. But the human just nodded. Bucky’s stomach dropped. “You lied.” 

 

The human scoffed, which he should not have been able to do. Not if he’d just gone and lied. His throat should have closed up. He should be in agony. 

 

“I don’t think that really counts as a lie. I told you the truth first. I said a week, and it’ll be a week.” He smiled at Bucky like this was not evidence of everything Bucky’s ancestors had tried to warn him about. He smiled like he was just teasing. “And like I said, it was a joke. Do you not tell jokes here?” 

 

“Does that not hurt you? You shouldn’t be able to say that,” Bucky spit the words out like they were poison. He crashed violently back to his senses and drew his spear. “Can all of your kind lie?” 

 

“Why would it hurt me?” The human frowned and stared at the tip of the spear like it was nothing more than a small nuisance. Would a cold iron blade do nothing to humans either? Had the human just been humoring him with the deal? Who knows how much damage someone that wasn’t hindered by cold iron could do if they weren’t bound by their word. The human’s eyes suddenly widened and locked back on Bucky’s face. “You can’t lie? At all?” 

 

“You can?” Bucky blurted before he thought better of it. He scoured the information he’d given the human. But it wouldn’t matter. Bucky couldn’t kill the human unless he failed to build the ship. He’d thought that would be a sure thing, that it was just a matter of time, but now here he was with a human that could lie, wasn’t bound by their deal, and possibly just as dangerous as the records had warned. The spear pointed at the human’s neck was all but useless. He took a step back. “We have records from the last time your kind interacted with us but… I thought it was a stupid myth.”

 

“We can lie,” the man confirmed. He almost looked… worried. Worried for Bucky. “Humans haven’t been kind to you in the past?”

 

It was another trick for more information. Bucky narrowed his eyes. “What else was a lie?” 

 

The human’s eyes lowered to the ground, scanning back and forth like he was reading something. “Nothing. I haven’t been lying to you.” He paused and chewed on his lower lip a bit. “Well, you seem to think jokes are lies but fair warning, I can’t remember every joke I tell so if you’re wondering about anything specific you’ll have to ask.” 

 

He could lie and he didn’t even remember doing it.  _ Shit _ . “And how will I know if you’re telling the truth then? You could just lie.  _ Again _ .”

 

“I could. But I won’t.” The human’s eyes were wide, on him. He’d raised his hands defensively during Bucky’s tirade and took a step back away from the spear. It was like the human had only just started to register the threat, now that there wasn’t one. He stared up at Bucky with those big pleading eyes and that was probably a trick too. “You’ll have to trust me.” 

 

“I shouldn’t have made a deal with you,” Bucky said, more to himself than the human. 

 

The human looked distraught. He spoke faster when he was upset. “I didn’t know that you couldn’t lie until now. Right?” 

 

Reassuring knowledge if Bucky had had any reassurance that the statement was true. This could be another lie. There was no way to tell. 

 

“What does that matter?” he snapped irritatedly. 

 

“It matters.” The human spoke with a confidence Bucky wished he could steal. “Yesterday I didn’t know. For all I knew you were going to go back into town then kill me anyway.” 

 

A hollow laugh ripped from Bucky’s throat. “I can’t. Even if I should, I made a deal. For better or for worse, you have six days, human.”

The human looked frustrated. Like Bucky was missing the meaning in what he was saying. It didn’t matter. Bucky had to find a way to neutralize this threat and he’d sworn not to do anything that would get the intruder killed. Not for another six days. Not until his coronation. 

 

Well, Steve had suggested keeping himself busy to keep his mind off of it. 

 

“My point is, I had no idea. I  _ trusted _ that you wouldn’t.” The human emphasized the word, like it was precious. He took a step back towards Bucky, disregarding the spear. It was either brave or stupid. Those big brown eyes glittered in the evening light and he looked like he was being sincere. But looks, like the records had warned, can apparently be deceiving. “That’s all I’m asking, for you to trust me. I won’t go back on our deal, even if I do have the ability to.”

 

Bucky shook his head and the human looked heartbroken. 

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Bucky said coldly. He scowled. “I  _ can’t  _ go back on our deal. You have six days.” 

 

He’d turned and was about to fly up into the evening air again when the human’s voice caught him like a vine wrapping around his ankle. 

 

“Would you want to?” 

 

Bucky looked back over his shoulder. The human looked so small. Harmless. Surrounded by the contrast of the shipwreck. 

 

Words wouldn’t come to Bucky’s lips. He left.

 

 


	3. Day Three

**Tony**

 

Tony woke on the third day after his crash to a frantic pounding on the windshield of his ship. He startled awake from where he had fell asleep on the captain’s chair the previous night and waited for the image on the outside to become clear. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes as everything came into focus. 

 

The fae was peering into his ship. He blinked again, trying to figure out if he was dreaming or if the fae had somehow scaled his ship to be able to pound on the window. “Human! Are you awake yet?” 

 

The fae scowled and put his face against the glass, trying to look around. He frowned and stepped back again for a moment to bang on the glass again, this time more insistently. “Wake up!” 

 

Tony sighed. He doubted that he was going to be able to roll over and go back to sleep. He glared out the window at the fae, something Tony was sure he did not see, and got out of the chair to storm to the door. He walked outside and towards the front of the ship where the fae was still trying to see inside. 

 

Instead if having scaled the ship like Tony had predicted he was hovering at windshield height. Tony briefly considered standing there and waiting to see how long it would take him to notice that Tony was no longer in the ship but he decided that he had made the fae angry enough. 

 

“Going to make me start bright and early today then?” Tony asks with a glare.

 

The fae turned around and slowly hovered down to Tony’s level. He landed softly on the grass, and now that he was facing Tony, Tony could see the basket that he was carrying. Tony could make out some mushrooms, gourds and some liquids. He glanced at it and then raised an eyebrow up at the fae in question. “I checked out history records again. Consuming any of this will make it impossible for you to lie.” He paused for a moment as he bits his lip, as though he was nervous about something. “The side effects were unclear but seemed harmless.” 

 

Tony thought it wasn’t the most reassuring thing to be told but he shrugged and grabbed some fruit that he didn’t recognize out of the basket and bit in anyway. “I think I can handle a little bit of risk. You going to leave me to die if it’s not harmless?” He asked with a grin. 

 

A horrified expression crossed the fae’s face. “Of course not! We have a deal.”

 

Tony rolled his eyes. “That was a joke again. We’re really going to have to work on that.” 

 

“I can’t lie,” the fae said quickly with a frown, as though Tony had forgotten, or didn’t understand. “Teaching me how would be a waste of effort.” He paused and then gesture to the basket he was still holding. “Try the drink. Do you feel any different?” 

 

“I’m not saying I should teach you how to lie. Just that it might help if you can tell when I am.” Tony took a drink, trying to place the taste but it was entirely different from anything that he had ever had on earth. He couldn’t place it, couldn’t even think of what it was similar to. “Not really feeling any different. Should I be able to tell?”

 

The fae shrugged, uncertain. “Dunno. I’m not human. Have never been human.” He gave Tony a small smile. Tony’s heart clenched; the smile was a lot better than the anger he had been on the other side of the previous day. 

 

Tony grinned in response. “Really? I was fa-” his tongue decided to trip over itself at that moment and he felt his throat close up painfully as he choked. He frowned, and then because he was always a little stubborn he tried again. “I was once f-” The same feeling ran through his throat. He could tell that he could force himself to talk through it, but it would hurt, like acid burning up his throat with every word. Instead he deepened his frown and didn’t attempt it again. “I think it’s working.” 

 

The fae squinted at him. “Were you trying to say you were fae once?” 

 

“Yes. But I  _ can’t. _ ” Tony had thought that this would be easier. He didn’t tell that many lies, or well, nothing that he actually considered lies. He didn’t think of a quip here and there as something worthy of the punishment that he had received. It seemed harsh. He hoped that the effect would wear off quickly. “You have taken away my ability to joke. This is the worst thing that has happened to me.” 

 

The fae’s face suddenly looked shocked as he walked towards Tony and seemed like he was about to reach out to him. He looked concerned? Tony didn’t understand why, he hadn’t said anything that was cause for the level of worry the fae appeared to be emanating. Then he realized that he couldn’t lie. The fae actually believed that it was the worst thing to have happened to him. He knew, realistically, that it wasn’t, but apparently since he believed it at the time, that was enough for the fae food coursing through his system not to register it as a lie. “Are you hurt?” The fae began, brow creasing in worry. “The records indicated that it would only make the consumer take on traits of the fae temporarily, which could mean biological shifts, but there were no recorded injuries or fatalities, so I assumed--”

 

“Stop. I’m fine.” Tony paused as though he were ensuring that it was actually fine. He wasn’t in any sort of pain. “See? Was able to say that so you know that I actually am.” 

 

The fae blinked, nodded once slowly and then stepped back from him, as though he suddenly realized how close he had actually been. He studied Tony for a moment before breaking out into a grin. “I already assumed you were telling the truth. It was an adjustment to know you could not. This is more normal for me.” He shuffled a bit on his feet, adjusting his weight from heel to heel as he considered something. He coughed slightly. “Tell me the truth: do you mean harm to anyone on this planet?” 

 

Tony frowned. He understood the need for the confirmation now that he knew that Tony could not lie, but it stung nonetheless. “No. I was telling the truth before and I am telling it now. I honestly don’t.” 

 

The fae didn’t even pause before launching into his next question. “Did you intend to land here?” 

 

Tony let out a laugh. “Why would I plan a  _ crash landing?  _ No, I didn’t.” 

 

That got the fae to frown. “Then did you not know the law of my planet when we first met? Why were you so…” He struggled for a moment and made a gesture with his hand. “Cavalier about your own life?” 

 

“I didn’t know it,” Tony says honestly. “And I don’t know. It’s the way I’ve approached things so far.” He gave a confident grin and he could already feel Rhodey scolding him at his next words. “Works out okay most of the time.” 

 

The fae laughed at him, a laugh that sounded like he was completely baffled by Tony. It wasn’t the first time Tony had received the reaction and somehow he doubted it would be the last either. “You have four days remaining to fix a spaceship. You count that as favorable?” 

 

Tony grinned wider. “Yep!” He gave a shrug. “I’ve done more in less time.” 

 

The fae looked at him with wide-eyed amazement. “And you’re telling the truth,” he said, like he needed to state it to make sure that Tony wasn’t actually lying. He gestured at the ship, taking his eyes away from Tony. “Is that common for your kind?” 

 

“What, having a spaceship or being able to fix it?” Tony asked. 

 

The fae turned back towards him, wonder apparent on his face. Like he wasn’t sure what to make of Tony. Like the telling the truth should have changed him more instead of getting the responses that he was out of him. “Either. Both.” 

 

Tony grinned again. “No for both.” He shot a curious look at the fae. “You going to tell me anything about yourself or is this a one way interrogation?” 

 

He blinked. He obviously hadn’t been expecting Tony to ask anything in return. “What do you want to know?” 

 

There was plenty that Tony wanted to know. He wanted to know more about the fae, the city that the fae kept coming in from, the planet itself. But he decided that those questions could wait until later. All he wanted in that moment was to know more about the fae standing before him, so he let out a small smile and said, “A name is good place to start.” 

 

The fae considered him for a moment, and he hesitated before answering. “You can call me Bucky.” 

 

“Is that your actual name?” Tony asked, there was something in the way that he hesitated that made him question the answer. 

 

The fae grinned at him again. “It’s what you can call me. Names are powerful things.” 

 

“Way to dodge the question,” he paused, and then realized that he had never given his own name. “My name’s Tony.” 

 

“Tony the human.” Bucky looked amused. “An oddity among his kind.” He gestured towards the ship once again. “And in an unlikely situation.” 

 

Tony laughed. “Not the first time someone’s called me an oddity. The situation is sort of new though.” It wasn’t the first time that he had crashed on a planet, but it was the first time he had crashed on one where the natives gave him a timeline towards when to leave under the threat of death. 

 

Bucky took the basket back from Tony and grabbed something out of it that Tony again did not recognize as he meandered over to a patch of grass in the forest clearing that was miraculously not burned the night that Tony crashed. He sat down and stared up at Tony. “Do you believe that you can succeed? In our deal.” 

 

Tony raised an eyebrow. He wondered how many times he’d have to answer the question, or if Bucky would just keep asking until Tony proved that he could actually finish in the allotted time. “I really do. Still don’t believe me?” 

 

“I know you think you’re telling the truth,” Bucky said playfully. “And that you certainly believe it.” 

 

“I do believe it. But I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself,” he said with another confident grin. 

 

Bucky waved a hand towards the ship as he looked down at the basket. “Don’t let me stop you.” 

 

“Don’t blow anything else up and you probably won’t.”    
  


* * *

 

**Bucky**

 

The way Tony worked should have been impossible. Bucky still wasn’t sure what he’d stumbled into with this human, the one who insisted he was no threat, but it was clear now exactly why the ancient fae had decided humans were dangerous. Tony’s hands alone kept Bucky enraptured as he worked, flying over the materials like he understood them through touch. There was no magic, not a trace of it, but there might as well have been. Tony tangled with metal with the grace of water that flowed and danced around the rocks in a stream.

 

He didn’t so much as falter when he came across a hitch in his plans, either. Or at least, what Bucky presumed were hitches, things like melted tools, or things called ‘circuit boards’ covered in scorch marks. He’d just tilt his head to the side, mumble something disparaging at the piece, and move on. 

 

As the hours slid by, Tony pulled more and more fixes for his wrecked ship out of thin air. A whole section Bucky had thought surely was nothing more than scrap was lit up and whirring away before the afternoon really had the chance to settle in. Tony had only asked for help once, and it had only been to get Bucky to lift the now complete ‘control panel’ and cart it back onto the ‘bridge.’ Bucky had stared blankly until Tony pointed the way with a cheerful smile. 

 

That was the biggest thing that should’ve been impossible. That smile. As far as Tony knew, he had less than a week to re-shape a pile of still smoking scrap metal into a working space ship, or he’d  _ die _ . But Tony believed he could do it. He’d said so while still under the effects of the fae food and…well if that wasn’t unexpected, Bucky didn’t know what was. 

 

The implications alone were terrifying. It meant that some deal he’d agreed to on a particularly masochistic whim could actually bind him into being the first of the fae to actually leave the planet. Bucky eyed the ship--it was actually looking more and more like a ship--and frowned. The idea of being trapped inside a metal tube and hurtling through space wasn’t terribly appealing. Bucky’s eyes slid over to Tony again, watching as he whistled a tune that Egg-O mimicked. The company certainly wouldn’t be bad. 

 

He was less and less convinced that Tony had any idea what he’d agreed to. There was no way he did. Or if he did, maybe there was some piece of information Bucky was missing. Maybe the other humans would love the idea of a stolen fae. Bucky thought of the dissection charts of humans in the historical records. Perhaps they’d been waiting a long time for revenge. 

 

“Yesterday you said you didn’t lie to me. Is that true?” Bucky asked. Better to poke now while Tony couldn’t lie. “Have you omitted anything?”

 

“No. I don’t think so anyway.” 

 

Tony looked up from his work and focused on Bucky. He rubbed his forearm over his forehead and managed to smudge more of the sticky black oil across his skin. It shouldn’t have been cute. Tony tilted his head at Bucky like Bucky was one of the puzzles he could solve just by getting his hands on it and Bucky halted that line of thought before it could go anywhere. He determinedly focused on Tony’s eyes. His big, expressive brown eyes, with long lashes and-- 

 

“Have you?” Tony asked, thankfully tearing Bucky away from his newfound panic. “Are you able to omit things? That’s not really lying, is it?”

 

_ I’m the crown prince, soon to be king unless you steal me away, _ Bucky thought with a wry grin. “I can omit things.” 

 

“Have you? With me?” Tony tacked on the latter question quickly. Clever. Otherwise Bucky could’ve answered as if Tony had asked if he’d omitted things at any point in time. A much easier question. Instead, Bucky just stayed silent. He watched Tony’s reaction carefully, catalogued the way his eyes widened when he realized silence was the response. Bucky watched him press his lips into a thin line, let his shoulders slump, and tried to memorize the way Tony’s eyebrows furrowed in frustration before he busied his eyes and hands with the gadget in front of him again. “I think I’d rather have you be able to lie.” 

  
  


Bucky felt himself tilt his head to the side like a mimic of Tony and quickly righted himself. “I wouldn’t want to lie.” 

 

“Sure.” Tony waved a tool at him. “But now it just seems like you’re not answering my questions because I won’t like the answer and you can’t lie about it.”

 

Bucky blinked. “What kind of answer would you dislike?”

 

Tony didn’t look up from his work. He shrugged and glared down at whatever it was that was giving him trouble. “Not sure.” He flicked the side of the, ignoring the metallic twang that echoed from the piece warningly. Then he dove back in. “Something like you omitted the fact that our deal only works until you get onto my ship and then you’ll kill me.”

 

Comprehension dawned slowly. Tony was used to a planet of others that could, and would, lie to him. He was looking for the trick. Bucky sat up straighter and gave Tony his full attention. “I promised you a week. You have four days remaining. But even if I could go back on our deal, I wouldn’t.” He paused, thinking maybe he’d gone too far. But Tony’s eyes flickered up to meet his own and a small tide of anxiety dissipated from around him. Not all of it, but a considerable chunk. Bucky pressed on. “That’s what you asked yesterday, isn’t it?” 

 

Tony eyed Bucky like he might actually be a threat and it just served as a reminder to Bucky just how foreign this intruder was. Tony hadn’t given a cold-iron spear and a death sentence the time of day. But the unknown? That seemed to spook him. 

 

“Yeah, it is,” Tony said finally. “I won’t go back on it either.”

 

Bucky smiled. “That’s good to hear, Tony.” He reached into the basket of food and wrapped his fingers around a grape. He popped it into his mouth and bit with a satisfying crunch. Tony seemed to think that was a good idea, since he stood up and brushed the dirt off his pants before sitting across from Bucky. Tony reached into the basket and snagged a small bunch of the berries. That the berries would keep him honest for a while longer either didn’t bother Tony or was a concern outweighed by regular old hunger. Bucky was willing to bet on the latter. 

 

Thing was, there was nothing keeping Tony bound to their deal. He could attack Bucky any moment if he wanted. As far as Bucky was aware, even a large quantity of native food consumed by an intruder wouldn’t retroactively bind a person to a deal. 

 

“May I ask why not?” Bucky said, because Stevie might have been right sometimes about Bucky not being able to let things lie. 

 

Tony swallowed and Bucky did not watch the line of his jaw move as he did. “I think it’d be interesting to have you around.” He shrugged. “You’re cute too, so I doubt I’ll mind your company.”

 

The air went still around them. Tony’s eyes widened again and he glanced at Bucky nervously for a split second before looking back at the bunch of berries in his hand instead. 

 

“What?” Bucky croaked. He coughed and tried to fix the whole fucking pound of fruit that was suddenly stuck in his throat. 

 

Tony just grinned at him, eyes lit up like he’d scored some small victory. “I said you’re cute.” 

 

Bucky wheezed, and rapped his artificial hand against his chest. He swallowed again. When he looked up at Tony, his grin had grown wicked. 

 

“What? No one’s ever told you before?” 

 

Indignation, outrage, mortification, and  _ delight _ drenched through Bucky’s head faster than he could account for them and he quickly closed his gaping mouth. “No, I--” he coughed again. “I, uh. Thank you.”

 

Tony didn’t seem to be struggling with any conflicting emotions of his own. He just beamed back at Bucky. “You’re welcome. You blush nicely too.” 

 

As if Bucky’s face wasn’t heated up  _ enough _ . 

 

He shoved off of the ground, floating a little ways away towards the device Tony had abandoned. He was the crown prince, soon to be king. And if he wasn’t soon to be king, then he might be this planet’s first ever exile. He had no business doing…whatever it was Tony was doing. “You’re being kind. Do you need any assistance?” 

 

“You consider kindness to be people complimenting you. Do fae not understand flirting?”

 

Bucky whirled around to glare at Tony, who just smiled back. “We understand it just fine. It’s just an uncommon occurrence in my own life.” And wow if that didn’t sound infinitely more depressing to say aloud than it had in his head. Bucky could practically feel Nat chiding him for being a bummer. He laughed a little as his eyes fell to the device. “As are intergalactic intruders. It’s been an odd week for me.”

 

“That’s a shame. I think it would have been a common occurrence for you if we met sooner.” Tony spoke earnestly and that somehow made everything worse. When Tony finally let Bucky off the hook, he shifted and pushed himself to his feet so that he could look at his ship forlornly. “I would say that this is a normal week for me as a joke but I still  _ can’t _ .” 

 

Tony popped another berry in his mouth and Bucky gave it a pointed look that Tony either missed or ignored. 

 

“It should wear off in a few hours,” Bucky said instead of ‘maybe stop eating the food, then.’ “Is there anything I can do to help in the meantime? I admit I had no idea how important lies were to humans.” 

 

Tony looked annoyed and opened his mouth to say something. Bucky raised his hands defensively.

 

“Sorry.  _ Jokes _ .” Bucky still didn’t quite understand the difference. 

 

“Actual lies aren’t important to me.” Tony huffed. He pointed at Bucky for emphasis. “See, you know that’s the truth.” 

 

He took a few steps closer to his ship, until he could run a hand over the smooth plating of the hull. He stared at it like it was precious to him and Bucky was suddenly jealous of a shipwreck. 

 

Tony shrugged. “It’s fine. I probably shouldn’t use humor as much of a crutch as I do anyway.”

 

“A crutch?” Bucky frowned, but took the excuse to scan over Tony’s body. He didn’t seem to be limping. But Bucky let his eyes rest on Tony’s ass and legs for a little longer than necessary, just in case. “For an injury?”

 

Tony laughed and looked at Bucky over his shoulder. He might have caught Bucky staring. He definitely did, if the coy smile was anything to go by. Bucky did his best to look like he hadn’t just been caught. “Not quite. It’s an expression. Just something I rely on sometimes.”

 

Bucky tilted his head to the side, mimicking Tony just for the hell of it. “Why?

 

Not to be outdone, Tony let his voice drop lower in what Bucky assumed was supposed to be an imitation of Bucky. “Does it matter?” 

 

That coaxed a grin out of Bucky. “It does to me.”

 

Tony looked startled. He stared Bucky down with those captivating eyes and Bucky fought the urge to move closer. 

 

“It’s…” Tony broke off and frowned at the forest floor, “easier. Than being genuine, that is.” 

 

“That’s a shame,” Bucky said, trying to be the very picture of the same earnestness Tony had shown him earlier. “I’ve liked what I’ve seen of the genuine Tony.”

 

Tony’s eyebrows lifted and tilted up in surprise, but it didn’t stop the grin that lit up his face. “I’ve liked the genuine Bucky. But I guess you’ve been genuine the entire time, so that might not be saying much.”

 

The wind whipped around the grass, and Tony glanced down at his feet. Whatever he saw there made his eyes widen even more. Bucky watched, a pleased smile creeping across his lips, as Tony slowly lifted off the ground. 

 

He’d been wondering if any of the noted side effects of consuming the food of the fae would affect Tony. He probably would’ve preferred Tony gain the capacity to sense and feel the emotions he seeped out like a leaking canoe, maybe be able to pick up on hints from Bucky as well. It made communication easier. Gave it context. But this? This was something else. 

 

Bucky crossed his arms over his chest and grinned up at Tony. He watched Tony flail his limbs about and try to tilt to one side, then the other. He looked affronted down at the ground as it drifted further and further. Then his eyes found Bucky and Bucky’s smile grew. 

 

“Okay, I definitely know that humans can’t do this normally.”

 

Bucky laughed. “Have you never flown?”

 

Tony scoffed. “Sure I have.” He gestured down at his ship, and looked somehow more irritated. 

 

“Then surely you can handle this.” Bucky took a couple steps closer and tilted his chin challengingly up at Tony. “What’s one more anomaly for you, Tony the Oddity?”

 

Tony glared. “Are you not going to tell me how to get down?”

 

Bucky snickered and shuffled his feet so that some of the dust of the forest kicked off. 

 

“You know, the fae operate on a culture of  _ exchange _ . It is rude to ask for information that has not been offered because it’s calling on a deal your partner has not agreed to. Similarly, it can be rude to offer assistance because it implies a debt.” He looked back up at Tony with his brightest grin. “Are you willing to put yourself in debt to me?”

 

Tony sighed and leaned back. He wobbled when there was no solid ground to catch his step, arms flailing out beside him as he gave a surprised little squawk. It was adorable. Bucky bit his lower lip and waited. 

 

“So I’d have to help you out if you’re ever magically floating and can’t get down?” Tony asked, and Bucky wondered not for the first time if all humans were so clever as to check the bonds and limits of a deal before they made them. Especially when it appeared there was nothing holding them to it. 

 

“Not quite.” Bucky shifted his weight a little, antsy to do something. “You’d owe me something of similar value.” 

 

Tony squinted at him, then at his ship. “Yeah. Why the hell not?”

 

* * *

 

**Tony**

 

Bucky grinned at him. “Good,” he said, and then he stepped off the ground effortlessly while he floated up to where Tony was with a grace that Tony was sure he did not demonstrate in his panic. He had seen Bucky flying on the outside of his ship but somehow it seemed more real now that he was flying with him as well. Tony did his best to keep the panic off of his face as Bucky came into his space and took his hands. Then Tony started to feel himself start to be lifted higher. 

 

Tony stared down at their hands. He was sure that he was holding on just a little too tight, afraid that at any moment the effects would wear off and he would go crashing back down to the planet surface. “Do fae have a different understanding of the word ‘down’?” Tony asked dryly. 

 

He looked back up at Bucky who simply raised an eyebrow at him. “I can take you down. And I will. But…don’t you wanna learn to fly first?” He looked so hopeful that Tony couldn’t bring himself to say no even if he wanted to. He definitely did not want to, he was perfectly fine with Bucky being close to him and holding his hands. 

 

He looked down at the ground that was slowly becoming further and further away before looking at Bucky again. It was the closest he had been to him as of yet, and yeah, it turned out that he was even more beautiful up close. “Yeah, okay. Teach me to fly.” 

 

Bucky looked delighted and then he grabbed Tony’s arms to wrap them around Bucky’s waist. Tony could feel his heart start to pick up and it had nothing to do with the fact that they were so far up. He couldn’t even focus on that anymore, instead choosing to focus on how warm and solid Bucky felt against him as Tony wrapped his arms around him. “Hold on tight, alright?” Bucky said before launching them up. 

 

Tony could feel the wind on his face. Could feel the chill spread across his cheeks as the atmosphere grew colder and the air got thinner. He panicked for a moment: he didn’t have fae biology. Surely he wouldn’t be able to breathe up this far for much longer, and if he didn’t asphyxiate, then the cold would get to him. But Bucky was a step ahead of him and suddenly Tony could see a magical bubble be wrapped around them. He could no longer feel the breeze or the chill and the air felt normal. Instead all he felt was safe and warm as he held onto Bucky and the planet beneath their feet grew more and more distant until all Tony could see were the glimmering lights of the city down below. Like stars in the night sky with the way that they shined, seemingly forever away. 

 

“Still with me?” Bucky asked. 

 

Tony could feel his grip on Bucky become tighter as he realized how far up they were. He looked back up to Bucky to answer but his words got stuck in his throat. Even though the sky was dark, Bucky seemed to glow. He was radiant. Tony wasn’t sure if all fae had that vibrance to them or if Bucky were different. As beautiful as the planet below was, Tony was certain that he had never seen anything more stunning than the fae he was currently holding onto. 

 

“Yeah, I’m with you,” he said, barely above a whisper. 

 

Bucky smiled softly at him as he reached around and grabbed Tony’s hands gently to encourage him to let go. “Feel the air around you. Understand that it’ll hold you, if you trust it to.” he looked at Tony’s face, eyes searching for something, although Tony did not know what, but he seemed fascinated with Tony nonetheless. As though he could live through seeing Tony fly, like he would learn it for the first time again. “Can you do that?” 

 

Tony nodded as he let go of Bucky but clasped their hands together still. He tore his thoughts away from how Bucky’s hands felt in his and tried to focus on being comfortable in the sky. He did his best to trust it like Bucky told him to, but it was difficult. “Let me work up to it?” Tony asked, he looked at Bucky again, and maybe he couldn’t trust the air as much as Bucky seemed to but Tony was pretty sure that he could trust Bucky and that had to be enough. 

 

Bucky didn’t let go of his hands or encourage Tony to let go either. Instead he watched him carefully but let Tony move around freely anyway. “Just like swimming. Do humans swim? Or does your kind strictly stick to walking?” 

 

“We swim,” Tony said and then wrinkled his nose. “I’m not a fan of it though.” He let go of one of Bucky’s hands so he was just holding onto the one. He laced their fingers together. If Bucky asked he could say that it provided a better grip, but Bucky didn’t comment on it, instead giving a reassuring squeeze as Tony stepped away so they were standing side by side instead of face to face. He looked around him. There was nothing but dark. The planet, from what he had seen, did not have clouds and they were still a distance away from the stars. The planet and the stars seemed equal distance away from one another, as though the two of them were at the midway point of them both even though Tony knew that the nearest star was light years away. 

 

“What about flying then?” Bucky asked with the same hopeful expression he had given Tony earlier. “Are you a fan?” 

 

Tony smiled. “I think I could be.” He grinned at Bucky and remembered the way he blushed when Tony told him that he was cute. He hadn’t been told off yet. “If you take me every time.” 

 

Bucky let out a scoff. “You hardly need me. Look, you’ve already got it mastered,” he said with a grin as he gently unlaced their fingers and spun Tony. “A natural. Well, as natural as a human can be at flying.” 

 

Tony laughed as he whirled in the sky. He could feel himself relax, though he was still constantly worried that he would fall as any moment. Of course the moment that he decided to relax was the same moment that he faltered and could feel himself drop a couple feet before steadying out again. He could feel the panic return tenfold. “I think it might be time to go back down.” 

 

Bucky immediately pulled him in, wrapped arms around Tony protectively in a way that Tony was sure he could get used to. He looked concerned as he asked, “You alright?” 

 

“I’m better now.” Tony said as he rested his head against Bucky’s chest without a second thought. “I think the food’s wearing off.” 

 

Tony let his eyes close as he started to feel a little dizzy but he could feel Bucky’s hand come up to hold the back of Tony’s head, his fingers running through Tony’s hair as he rested his chin on top of of Tony’s head. Tony kept his eyes closed even as he felt them going back down to the surface. Tony finally felt his feet touch the ground softly, and he opened his eyes to see his ship in front of them again. 

 

“Better let you get back to it.  Wouldn’t want to ruin your chances at succeeding in our deal.” Bucky said with a fond look. 

 

Tony couldn’t stop the dopey grin that spread on his face as he looked up at Bucky. “I don’t know. It might be worth it.” 

 

Bucky tilted his head slightly as he grinned back and stepped away. “As tempting as that is, I think you are lying to me. Even if you aren’t, flirting is not worth risking your life.” He winked.

 

Tony wasn’t one to give in that easily. “It might be. If it’s working. And I think it’s working.” 

 

Bucky laughed as he gave a small wave and then pushed off the ground to fly back into the forest. 

 

* * *

 

**Bucky**

 

Bucky got all of three steps into the royal palace before he got caught. The footsteps were unmistakably headed his direction and in his panic, he’d gone and tossed himself in one of the coat closets. He winced as the steps stopped outside the closet door. 

 

“Y’know, even if I couldn’t feel your panic like a dwarf star trying to hide behind a pillar, I’d be able to find you from the actual trail of dirt and soot you left behind you.” Steve’s voice was a lazy drawl. It only got like that when they were alone and Steve wasn’t having to answer to any of the royal council, so Bucky opened the closet door and stared guiltily at his best friend. Steve looked unimpressed. “Where have you been?” 

 

“Out,” Bucky said evasively. He ducked around Steve and walked confidently back towards his chambers, as if Steve had been the one disturbing his perfectly valid time in the closet. “Are you even on duty tonight?” 

 

“You were missing,” Steve repeated petulantly. His legs weren’t as long as Bucky’s and he struggled to keep up as Bucky tried to keep just that slight advantage. If Steve saw his face, it was all over. Bucky tried to compress his thoughts and feelings and keep the energy of them hidden away from Steve’s wandering aura. But Steve was sharp. Too sharp. He squinted up at Bucky. “You’re hiding something.” 

 

“I was hoping to hide  _ me _ ,” Bucky tried with a weak smile. “Y’know, closed the closet door n’ everythin’.”

 

Steve looked more suspicious. “That wasn’t a denial.” 

 

Bucky groaned and walked faster. Steve started flying backwards in front of Bucky to keep up.

 

“You have a secret you haven’t told me?” 

 

“Stevie, oh my god--”

 

“You  _ do _ .” Steve looked deeply offended. He flew a little closer. Bucky got fed up with it and flew around Steve in a mad dash to make it to his chambers first. As if that would solve anything. Steve was still hot on his trail. “Your aura feels weird. Like you got caught doing something good and--” 

 

Steve stopped abruptly and Bucky nearly smacked into him.

 

“You have a crush.” Steve announced. His eyes had gone wide, but the grin that followed was the true sign that Bucky was in trouble. “And just a couple days before your coronation, too! Aw, Buck that’s wonderful. Who is it? Are you going to propose? I know it’s last minute, but--”

 

Bucky clamped his hand over Steve’s mouth. “Sh. Steve. Quit it. I can’t tell you. Okay?” 

 

A very muffled ‘why not’ came out from under Bucky’s hand and Steve was back to looking irritated. 

 

“I just can’t,” Bucky explained. “I made a deal. Can’t back out.” 

 

“You made a deal with your crush that you wouldn’t tell me about them?” Steve looked hurt now. Damnit. 

 

“No,” Bucky tried, but Steve was already making himself into a big pathetic pile of pillows and blankets on Bucky’s bed. “Steve, no. If I had known this would happen, then I wouldn’t have made the deal to keep quiet, okay? I want to tell you.”

 

Steve stared at him curiously. “Wait. You promised not to tell me--”

 

“Anyone,” Bucky interrupted. “Not just you.”

 

“Unimportant,” Steve said dismissively. “You promised not to tell anyone about this mystery person before you had a crush?” 

 

Bucky winced. 

 

The spark of interest was back in Steve’s eyes. “Cool. I wanna see. I’ll follow you tomorrow.”

 

“What?” 

 

Steve batted his eyelashes. “Or are you not going to go visit your mystery person again?” 

 

Bucky stammered. He was starting to see the appeal of casual lying. “Steve, you can’t follow me.”

 

“What if you’re in danger?” Steve insisted. 

 

“I’m not!”  

 

Bucky paused, surprised at his own words. And how much he meant them. But it was true. Even though it had only been three days since Tony’s crash landing and he’d discovered the human could lie, Bucky was confident that Tony wouldn’t try to hurt him. Capable of lying or not, no one with hands that gentle and a gaze so soft could be secretly malicious. Just the way Tony stared at Egg-O like a proud father was telling enough. 

 

Bucky’s thoughts and feelings burst at the seams from where he was trying to keep them cooped up away from Steve, and filled the room slow like molasses. The memory of Tony spinning against a background of stars, of the gentle way he’d rested his head on Bucky’s chest, the way he’d flirted with Bucky without a semblance of reserve. Bucky fought to keep a smile off his face. 

 

Steve whistled low. 

 

“Wow.” He raised an eyebrow at Bucky and grinned. “Whoever it is must be really cute, huh?”

 

Bucky gave in and grinned. “Yeah. He is.” 

 

Steve grinned back and settled in to listen.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fic we decided to write for [Dreamy's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamcatchersdaughter) birthday and uh, got a little carried away. 
> 
> [Come join us on the 18+ Winteriron Discord Server if you wanna chat about these idiots!](https://discord.gg/A32YB6Y)


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